G8 pledges $20-billion for Arab Spring countries

They closed their summit with a “declaration on the Arab spring” that pledged to back concrete economic political reforms across North Africa and the Middle East, starting with Egypt and Tunisia, two countries which ousted dictators but face economic downturn.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the entire package of aid marshalled for North Africa would total $40-billion, including $10-billion in bilateral aid from G8 countries, and another $10-billion from Arab gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The prime ministers of both Egypt and Tunisia had come to the summit seeking billions of dollars to address budget gaps, launch economic-development programs, and to seek capital for job-creation initiatives.

Tunisia’s foreign minister, Jalloul Ayed, said Friday that the money is key to securing the country’s path to democracy by providing hope, especially to young people that sparked the revolution that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The declaration did not specify which funds would come from which institution or country, instead tasking finance ministers and foreign ministers from the G8 – Canada, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia – with hammering out details “over the next few months.

Several G8 nations have offered their own aid packages to Egypt and Tunisia – though Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicated Thursday that Canada doesn’t expect to offer its own bilateral aid package. Instead, he said he favours aid being delivered through multilateral development banks, noting that Canada has increased its loan-guarantee backing for several such banks since 2009.

The G8 declaration called for one of those Canadian-backed development banks, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to extend its lending to North African nations like Egypt and Tunisia.

Re: G8 pledges $20-billion for Arab Spring countries

May 27th, 2011

Enough with the never-ending aid from the Western nations that are despised in that neck of the woods... If these groups want to attract capital investment, then offer the options and everyone can move forward. As it stands, Canadians are being taxed to death just to afford our own society, I have little interest in going into debt (as a Nation) or being taxed further to support everyone else on the globe.

Wow, 90%... yeah, I'd pretty much expect those sorts of things to go hand in hand. It takes the same kind of bastard to do both.

damngrumpy

No Party Affiliation

#24

Re: G8 pledges $20-billion for Arab Spring countries

Feb 16th, 2013

Lets see, first the ordinary people rise up against oppression and shut down a nation
to get justice. They bring down the monsters and have an election manipulated by a
second group of monsters called the Muslim Brotherhood. The propose destroying
the intent of democracy in order to go down a path do democracy and they want us the
west, to put money in so they can dictate democracy to the masses.
This is the greatest game of hood wink I have ever seen. These people hate us and they
intend to impose the most severe kind of fascist oppression the enlightened world has
ever seen and we contribute to their cause. I say not ONE DIME to these, bastar*ds.
Oh and maybe they will be friendly toward us think again. Same with China if we do this
or that they will come around, that is not going to happen period.
It is time we woke up and faced reality